dewme

About

Username
dewme
Joined
Visits
932
Last Active
Roles
member
Points
15,799
Badges
2
Posts
6,115

Reactions

10.5KLike59Dislike864Informative

  • Geekbench reveals M2 Ultra chip's massive performance leap in 2023 Mac Pro

    dewmedewme
    mjtomlin said:
    entropys said:
    If buying this kind of workstation, why on earth would I be interested in a comparison with a four year old machine? I would be comparing it with what else is currently in the market to perform similar tasks.

    Regardless, this machine is an expensive, crippled embarrassment, not able to do anything a Mac Studio can do at much lower cost. 

    It is not the Mac Pro anyone should be looking for.

    You're not Apple's target here. They're trying to get users of Intel Mac Pros to upgrade. Hence, the comparison to the previous Mac Pro. Anyone interested in spending this type of money on a system would do some research - I'd hope - and know there are Intel and AMD systems that are more powerful. But that's completely useless to someone who's workflow is based around the Mac and Apple.

    I'm not familiar with 3D modeling processing, but based on computer architectural precedents I'd tend to agree with Mjtomlin on this one regarding Apple's virtual memory system being available to work with data sets that far exceed the onboard RAM by paging to writable storage media, e.g., SSDs and hard disks. Performance will certainly degrade, but it should still be possible.

    The previous statement by entropys: "It is not the Mac Pro anyone should be looking for" is logically nonsensical. Even if you conducted a statistically valid sample size of people who are looking for Mac Pro computers, it would be highly unlikely to achieve a result of zero. You may not like it, but I'd bet that there would be at least one potential buyer who does like it.

    Every product, service, or system designed by humans has an intended purpose. Everything built from such purposeful designs has a whole range of limitations, including but not limited to, operational, capacity, performance, duty cycle, service life, acquisition cost, total cost of ownership, form factor, etc., limitations. Buyers of these products, services, and systems are responsible for making sure whatever they purchase meets their needs prior to purchase and/or within a certain evaluation period.  

    For example, if a potential customer needs a 200 kW generator and buys a 150 kW generator that doesn't meet his/hers needs, is this the fault of the seller or the buyer? If the 200 kW generator is discontinued and replaced by a 150 kW model, is it valid to state that the 150 kW generators serve no purpose and nobody at all should be looking at them? What about buyers who need a 150 kW or lower power generator?

    The bottom line is that the Apple Silicon Mac Pro may not be a drop-in replacement for every use case that is achievable on the Intel Mac Pro. But it is undoubtedly a very powerful computer in its own right, far exceeding the performance of its predecessor within the scope of use cases the new Apple Silicon Mac Pro supports amazingly well. The M2 Ultra Mac Studio is also a very powerful machine. There is obviously some overlap between these two products just as there is some overlap between the M1 Mac Studio and the M2 Mac mini. Having expansion slots on the Mac Pro will delight those buyers who need that additional capability.

    I think it's a very good thing for Mac buyers to have more high quality choices. I'm not going to rag on models that don't fit my needs. They probably fit other people's needs. I'll buy what I need from the available choices and enjoy the precious few months or years before my brand new Mac becomes the previous version or last-years great thing that's been replaced by this-years better thing. 

    Finally, if none of the current Macs fit a Mac shoppers needs, go buy or build a Windows PC or a Linux PC. It's much better for everyone involved for those who can't find what they need from Apple to go buy a non-Apple PC that keeps them happy rather than buying a Mac that doesn't meet their needs and constantly lamenting the fact that Apple can't make everyone happy. For some folks, it's time to accept the fact that "dude, you're getting a Dell." We forgive you.
    roundaboutnowMisterKit9secondkox2watto_cobrabeowulfschmidtkurai_kage

  • Apple Vision Pro vs Meta Quest heatsets - how the approaches compare

    dewmedewme

    Apple vs Meta - Meatspace management

    What in blazes is “meatspace management”?  Is this some sort of anti-vegan community management tool?
    I think they're trying to refer to how the virtual environment and associated virtual elements created by the headset are integrated and meshed with the real, physical world and physical elements, into a single shared context. This would include real people, i.e., who are part of the "meat" that exists in the meatspace. It's a lighthearted colloquial term, especially in tech circles, but understandably not universally recognized.
    watto_cobraappleinsideruserFileMakerFeller

  • Why Apple Vision Pro has a chance at being the future of work

    dewmedewme
    The term “Spatial Computing” will draw a lot of blank stares from consumers. Apple’s Vision Pro website explains what it means in terms of the Vision Pro product. To connect to consumers beyond the audience of AppleInsider (and similar communities) Apple will need something akin to the “1000 Songs in Your Pocket” messaging that drew buyers to the original iPod. They still have time to work on it, but they’ll need something to simplify the message and connect to ordinary people, which “Spatial Computing” isn’t able to do without a lengthy and often repeated training and familiarization period, if they choose to stick around long enough to sit through the whole spiel.
    williamlondon

  • Apple announces new Music, Podcasts, and Maps features coming in the fall

    dewmedewme
    The Maps refinements sound worthwhile, especially the better-late-than-never offline maps. I've been very happy with Apple Maps in the latest iOS 16.x versions. The intermediate stops feature is especially useful. I was recently driving on a long trip and out of the blue Siri announced "Take the next exit!" without indicating why. I complied. Turns out that Apple Maps and Siri saved me from sitting in backed-up traffic for hours due to an accident ahead. My wife in a second vehicle was about 30 minutes ahead of me but was not using Apple Maps. She arrived at the destination more than 2 hours after I did. 
    appleinsideruserlolliverAlex_VAlex1Nwatto_cobra

  • iPadOS 17 feature roundup: Interactive widgets, USB webcam support, Health app, more

    dewmedewme
    I did discover one subtlety in how the Lock Screen customization works with iPadOS (and I suppose older iPhones) as a consequence of my test iPad having Touch ID rather than Face ID. My last couple of iPhones and newest iPad Pro all came with Face ID.

    What I didn’t realize is that you have to unlock your device to edit the Lock Screen. That absolutely makes sense, duh. When the device has Face ID I didn’t realize that that device was unlocked on the fly using Face ID when I long pressed on the Lock Screen. In fact, I was somewhat annoyed every time I’d grab my iPhone and it would be in Lock Screen editing mode seemingly by accident. 

    If your device, in my case my older beta test worthy iPad, has Touch ID you have to unlock the device with Touch ID first, swipe down from the top when the desktop appears, and then do the long press thing to invoke the Lock Screen editor. This behavior has been there all along, but because I’ve never used Lock Screen editing on a Touch ID device I was oblivious to what was really going on. 
    mobirdwatto_cobra